In last week's post, I asked for your favorite colors, and what you would like to see in the free recipe section. By random choice, the winner is Barbara, who asked for a teal and rust. To make a nice teal, as opposed to buying a pre-mixed dye) there are 2 ways to do it: darken a blue with a black, or "tone down" the blue with it's complement, orange. The challenge is to find the best blue and the perfect "orange" to use. Here, the blue is Cerulean, but the orange is mixed from a yellow and red in particular proportions. I had to try a few "oranges" to come up with this one.

This week, I would love to hear your creative ideas for how you "organize" your sample swatches, if you make them. I have some simple ideas and photos about that to share in a future blog post. Leave a comment on your "system." If you post a comment here and share with us how your organize your samples and/or keep records (if you do) , the exact recipe for these lovely 2 color will be privately e mailed to you within 24 hrs.I look forward to reading your comments.

(OFFER CLOSED)

Merna

11/25/2013 12:53:17 pm

No samples, no system -- sort of. I do label the skeins of yarn I dye and I have a notebook page or a sheet of paper with the corresponding label recipe. I usually don't try to redo what I've done before.

I measure everything, and keep track of everything on a dyesheet for each color I dye. This way I can reproduce the color again. I also dye yarn and fabric together, so I have embroidery threads that will match the fabric.

I don't usually care about recreating any colors, so I don't keep many samples. The ones I do have are stapled to index cards with the recipe written on them.

Catherine

11/25/2013 03:46:36 pm

This is a timely subject for me. I currently have a large stack of fabric samples that I want to keep as reference. In the past I have kept swatches and recipes in a notebook. But with these, I want to mix and match them as I come up with different color pallets to work with. I think attaching them to an index card may be simple yet effective solution.

Sandy

11/25/2013 04:27:59 pm

If I'm dyeing with "intent" (a color I think I'll want to produce again), I have a swatch sheet with blanks for dye formula, process, etc.Otherwise, my calculations are on a scratchpad or in a notebook, and if I like the result, I'll attach a fabric swatch .

Barbara

11/25/2013 05:53:14 pm

I have thousands of swatches so I rarely need to keep swatches any more.
Most are taped on paper with double sided tape and slipped into a page protector similar to my Carol color book of swatches.
I have some 3" swatches glued to cards with holes punched in them and held together with a ring.
In a pinch for time, I might slip all labeled test swatches from that day in a page protector and keep them in a notebook specifically for those types of swatches.

Dianne VanderMeer

11/25/2013 10:02:18 pm

I keep an inexpensive spiral notebook at hand when I mix dyes and note each formula as I go. I always think I'll remember what I did, but I don't an hour later, thus the notes! I attach a small swatch next to the notation. If I'm really doing a formal color experiment of increments, two or three color runs, shading or dulling, etc., I attach 2" color swatches of the results with two-sided tape to a card stock page which I then keep in a binder. I print the card stock pages using a template I made which includes areas for the swatch layout, dye recipe, technique used, timing/temps. and fabric information.

I keep swatches of all the colors I have dyed. With a lot of dye-a-holics we have dyed a lot of colors from one color to another and changed those swatches with Esch others. That gave a lot of great possibilities. It is like a real catalogue.

Judi Corrado

11/26/2013 08:05:05 am

Cut a swatch from cloth documenting recipe and fabric and tape in notebook grouped by color

Procion Princess

11/26/2013 09:22:02 am

Judi,
The e mail address you typed in for a reply comes back as "blacklisted" by Yahoo and I cannot override. Sorry. If you have an alternate address, please submit it again. Sorry - there is no way Yahoo will allow me to send it. It keeps coming back.

Barbara

11/26/2013 10:19:31 am

When I suggested teal or rust it was because those are not recipes that I see often.
How clever of you to use the same dyes for both recipes just in different amounts!!

Vivs

11/26/2013 12:01:51 pm

I have a large stack of previously dyed recipes, but they are not attached to fabric swatches or anything, so they are fairly un-useful to me. Moving forward, I hope to keep swatches so I can know which colors I'm trying to reproduce. I'll staple a bit of the fabric(s) to the page with the recipe

Anne Peters

11/26/2013 08:53:11 pm

I wish I had a system. I try to use index cards with a colour name, the dyes used, and a sample, and when I overdye I try to add the next colour sample as well. I also try to name the dyeing approach. eg: Dunnewold, Benn and Morgan, or Johnston. Not much of a system though. And I get wrapped up in the dyeing and forget to label or keep track..

I create a recipe card prior to starting a dye project. I always dye an extra bit of fabric so that I can cut a swatch and attach it to my recipe card (which is an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper). I then store all of my "cards" in a three ring binder.

Comments are closed.

Meet The Procion Princess

Mother of two teenage boys, and married to my great husband for nearly 25 years. I have been quilting for the past 20 years. I am addicted to fabric dyeing, mixed media with thickened dyes, art quilting, and quilt pattern design in EQ7. I live in suburban Milwaukee, Wisconsin.